Suddenly FileMaker developers are iOS app developers

By Brian Panhuyzen
January 14, 2016

Suddenly, this week, FileMaker developers are iOS app developers.

That’s the upshot of FileMaker Inc.’s release of the FileMaker iOS Application Software Development Kit, a toolkit that lets FileMaker developers engage their existing skills to create native iOS apps. Sure, you can run FileMaker solutions on your iPhone and iPad via the free FileMaker Go client, and that works just fine – the only downside is that the user will always need to install the client on their device and use that to open the solution. Now, a FileMaker solution can be a self-contained app, which appears on the device home screen – alongside apps like Safari and Facebook and Evernote – as a distinctive icon that you simply tap to run. Although it’s not yet clear whether such apps will be distributable via the App Store, there will be channels through which organizations can install them on employee and/or customer iPhones and iPads.

Of course, you can engage the services of an iOS developer to create your company’s custom app, but due to the complexity of the process and the skills needed, it’s an expensive proposition. FileMaker’s announcement has added thousands of FileMaker developers to the worldwide pool of iOS developers. Not only that – an existing FileMaker solution could be only a few hour’s work away from becoming an iOS app.

FileMaker’s platform has blossomed in recent years to make databases into real, customizable software solutions. Now, customers and clients have the option of putting those solutions out there – as iOS apps.

More info:

http://cimbura.com/tech/2016/01/13/filemaker-mobile-ios-development-native-app-sdk/

https://www.geistinteractive.com/2016/01/12/filemaker-ios-application-sdk/

- Brian Panhuyzen, FileMaker Developer